The Role of Intensional and Extensional Interpretation in Semantic Representations – The Intensional and Preextensional Layers in MultiNet

Hermann Helbig, Ingo Glöckner

2007

Abstract

Although it is well known that the full meaning of a concept includes an intentional and an extensional aspect, the latter is neglected in almost all practically used knowledge representations and semantic formalisms, which consider only the interrelationships between concepts but not their referential meaning. In logically oriented representations with the usual model-theoretic interpretation, the extensions of predicates or symbols of the language in general belong to a meta-level (the model level) clearly distinguished from the logical language. In this paper, we show in what way the extensional aspect is important (in addition to the intentional aspect) to account for the full meaning of natural language expressions. The necessity of dealing with both types of meaning is illustrated by means of semantic phenomena like factual and intentional negation, intentional quantification and cardinalities, or by the meaning of prepositions describing set relationships, and others. We will utilize the framework of Multilayered Extended Semantic Networks (MultiNet) to discuss these issues. The MultiNet formalism is successfully used in various NLP applications. Its explicit modeling of intentional and pre-extensional layers offers an explanation of the interplay of intension and extension of conceptual entities in the overall process of constituting the meaning representations of natural language expressions.

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Paper Citation


in Harvard Style

Helbig H. and Glöckner I. (2007). The Role of Intensional and Extensional Interpretation in Semantic Representations – The Intensional and Preextensional Layers in MultiNet . In Proceedings of the 4th International Workshop on Natural Language Processing and Cognitive Science - Volume 1: NLPCS, (ICEIS 2007) ISBN 978-972-8865-97-9, pages 92-105. DOI: 10.5220/0002415900920105


in Bibtex Style

@conference{nlpcs07,
author={Hermann Helbig and Ingo Glöckner},
title={The Role of Intensional and Extensional Interpretation in Semantic Representations – The Intensional and Preextensional Layers in MultiNet},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 4th International Workshop on Natural Language Processing and Cognitive Science - Volume 1: NLPCS, (ICEIS 2007)},
year={2007},
pages={92-105},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0002415900920105},
isbn={978-972-8865-97-9},
}


in EndNote Style

TY - CONF
JO - Proceedings of the 4th International Workshop on Natural Language Processing and Cognitive Science - Volume 1: NLPCS, (ICEIS 2007)
TI - The Role of Intensional and Extensional Interpretation in Semantic Representations – The Intensional and Preextensional Layers in MultiNet
SN - 978-972-8865-97-9
AU - Helbig H.
AU - Glöckner I.
PY - 2007
SP - 92
EP - 105
DO - 10.5220/0002415900920105